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This Remembrance Profile was originally created by Sgt Stephen Willcox - Deceased
Contact Info
Home Town Hinsdale, Illinois
Last Address Shalimar, Florida
Date of Passing Feb 04, 1998
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Lieutenant Colonel Edward Francis Hodges retired from the U.S. Air Force on June 30, 1970. At the time of his retirement he was the Deputy to Chief Plans & Programs for Special Operations Forces Headquarters at Eglin AFB, Florida. He was then President and general manager of Hodges and Sons Inc., a heating and air conditioning company until the business was sold in 1979. He lived in the Shalimar, Florida area from about 1968 to his death at the Fort Walton Beach Medical Center in 1998 from complications of Lung Cancer. During his retirement years he was active in a number of military related organizations including the Air Force Association, Retired Officers Association, BPOE Fort Walton Beach Lodge 1795, Disabled American Veterans, P-47 Thunderbolt Pilots Association, P-51 Mustang Pilots Association and the Northwest Florida Retired Officers Club.
He is buried at the Beal Memorial Cemetery, Ft. Walton Beach, Okaloosa County, Florida.
Sources: http://www.findagrave.com, Social Security Death Index, Ancestry.com and Florida Death Index, 1877-1998, Ancestry.com
Other Comments:
Edward Francis Hodges was born in Hinsdale, Illinois, the son of Edward P. Hodges and Mary Frances Nanz. In the late 1930's he served in the Civilian Conservation Corps in Missouri before enlisting in the Army Air Corps on March 30, 1942 at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. By 1945 he was flying combat missions in P-47s from the island of le Shima against mainland Japan. By 1947 he trained to fly the P-51 at Kearney Air Base in Nebraska, then deployed to Clark AFB in the Philippines in 1948. A Clark Field he served as both a pilot and supply officer for the 67th Fighter Squadron. With the onslaught of the Korea War he was flying combat missions again in 1950. Returning from a combat mission his engine quit and he was forced to bail out, injuring his back as he ejected from the aircraft. He was later rescued and returned to duty, but because of his back injury he was sent back to Clark Field and soon back to the states were he trained F-86 and F-84 pilots for the Korean War. During the Vietnam War he was sent to Tan Son Nhut Air Base where he served as Commander ALCE (Airlift Control Element).
Sources: http://trees.ancestry.com, U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 & http://www.18thfwa.org
Note: During his career Lt. Col. Hodges obviously earned other medals then those depicted on this profile, thus the medal array does not represent his full awards and honors. The dates for the medals are also not accurate, but attempt to represent what he would have earned while serving in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, plus other awards mentioned in Internet resources. For a more detailed biography of Lt. Colonel Edward F Hodges see http://www.18thfwa.org/natural/Causes/edHodges/edHodges.php
Korean War
From Month/Year
June / 1950
To Month/Year
July / 1953
Description The Korean War; 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal force, came to the aid of South Korea. China came to the aid of North Korea, and the Soviet Union gave some assistance.
Korea was ruled by Japan from 1910 until the closing days of World War II. In August 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, as a result of an agreement with the United States, and liberated Korea north of the 38th parallel. U.S. forces subsequently moved into the south. By 1948, as a product of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, Korea was split into two regions, with separate governments. Both governments claimed to be the legitimate government of all of Korea, and neither side accepted the border as permanent. The conflict escalated into open warfare when North Korean forces—supported by the Soviet Union and China—moved into the south on 25 June 1950. On that day, the United Nations Security Council recognized this North Korean act as invasion and called for an immediate ceasefire. On 27 June, the Security Council adopted S/RES/83: Complaint of aggression upon the Republic of Korea and decided the formation and dispatch of the UN Forces in Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force, with the United States providing 88% of the UN's military personnel.
After the first two months of the conflict, South Korean forces were on the point of defeat, forced back to the Pusan Perimeter. In September 1950, an amphibious UN counter-offensive was launched at Inchon, and cut off many of the North Korean troops. Those that escaped envelopment and capture were rapidly forced back north all the way to the border with China at the Yalu River, or into the mountainous interior. At this point, in October 1950, Chinese forces crossed the Yalu and entered the war. Chinese intervention triggered a retreat of UN forces which continued until mid-1951.
After these reversals of fortune, which saw Seoul change hands four times, the last two years of conflict became a war of attrition, with the front line close to the 38th parallel. The war in the air, however, was never a stalemate. North Korea was subject to a massive bombing campaign. Jet fighters confronted each other in air-to-air combat for the first time in history, and Soviet pilots covertly flew in defense of their communist allies.
The fighting ended on 27 July 1953, when an armistice was signed. The agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone to separate North and South Korea, and allowed the return of prisoners. However, no peace treaty has been signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war. Periodic clashes, many of which are deadly, have continued to the present.
